I've owned a lot of good speakers over the years. Axiom, Bowers & Wilkins, Mirage, JBL and even Klipsch. I've never had the opportunity to listen to any from Martin Logan, so I was very anxious to hear how they sound. \n\nMartin Logan has been around for forty years now and they've been a respected brand for pretty much the entire time. It's easy to see that reputation in action when you listen to the Motion Series B10 bookshelf speakers. There are some unique features of these speakers that I needed to find out more about. Probably the most obvious impression that anyone has of a pair of speakers is how they look. I would have really loved to see the walnut finish, but the black are really pretty great looking. Honestly, the photos just don't do them justice. It's not just black, it's a piano black, high gloss finish. This finish is on everything except the front panel. The mid/bass grill makes it a truly signature ML speaker. I like the look of the grills. I generally run my speakers with the grills removed because I love to see fine speakers in all their glory. Usually, grills cover up all the beautiful engineering and style, but by just covering the mid/bass speaker, you still get that grill-less feel.\n\nThe drivers themselves scream luxury. You know this is not going to be your routine listening experience when you see the Gen2 Obsidian Folded Motion Tweeters. These are not your typical tweeters. They've been around for a long time in different variations but ML has put their own spin on them with larger magnets. This helps to improve the performance by lowering distortion. More and more speaker companies are adopting this type of tweeter design for a number of reasons but for the B10s, the choice is obvious. They have a very natural sound to them, and they do it in a way that allows the listener to not have to sit dead center to hear it.\n\nThe mid/bass driver has a woven fiberglass cone. The bass and mid bass is tight and very realistic sounding. I was able to listen to these speakers on two of my sound systems. One in my office without a subwoofer and one on my basement system that has a subwoofer. I can say without a doubt, I prefer using a subwoofer with the B10s. As good as they are, they are still bookshelf sized cabinets and really benefit from the low end a subwoofer provides. With the sound pressure levels being handled by a subwoofer, these speakers really shine. The first thing I noticed when listening to music was the larger than expected sound stage. It sounds like the speakers are much farther apart than I had them placed. You feel as if the sound is coming from a wider, deeper room.\n\nIn general, I could easily listen to these speakers for hours without noticing any ear strain whatsoever. They are, in a word... smooth. They have a very natural sound and don't “color” the sound you hear. I listen to music with a subwoofer and flat EQ settings, but with a lot of other brands of speakers, after a time, my ears literally get tired. That's usually because of harsh or tinny tweeters and a crossover that just doesn't produce smooth transitions between speakers. I won't say I'm able to hear and pick out a good crossover from a poor one, but when everything is properly dialed in, like it is with the B10s, it's easy to start understanding the difference. All these special features combine to make a speaker that is crystal clear and accurate. If you're looking for the deep thumping bass, you'll benefit from pairing these guys with a separate subwoofer. Not that they aren't punchy, they are, but they're punchy in the mid bass area instead of the sub bass area. I should also mention that there is a bass port on the rear of the cabinet. This will also help to provide even more punch with experimental placement of the speakers. I wasn't able to put them on a shelf or in an enclosed bookshelf, but I bet they would sound even more punchy if you don't have a subwoofer to pair them with.\n\nI put in several movies to see how these guys played with other non Martin Logan speakers and I was not disappointed. I have an Axiom center channel and Klipsh rears. I found the B10s performed similarly to the music listening I did. Smooth, natural sound that blended well with the rest of the speakers. I will say that after using them in my office system with an Onkyo 900 series receiver and a smaller room environment, the bass response was better. Still punchy mid/bass but because of the smaller room, it was a fuller sound. I had these guys on stands, but again, if they were put in a bookshelf they would probably perform even better for those wanting the low end.\n\nAt 14.5 pounds each, they are hefty for their size. They come with feet that screw into existing holes in the bottom of the cabinets. One thing I wasn't too keen on was the fact that the feet are plastic, which seems like an odd choice to me. Since in my listening tests, I placed them on top of my baseme